A friend and I got engaged right around the same time and when she asked me to come along to look at dresses we decided to go to Allesandra's, both of us have stood up in weddings where the brides have gotten their bridesmaid dresses from there... so we were familiar with the business.
My friend told Aziz (the Allesandra employee) an idea of what she was looking for and explained that she wanted to spend between $400 and $500. Aziz said that wouldn't be a problem and we found the perfect dress in less than an hour.
When I decided to start trying on dresses I knew right away I wanted to go back to Allesandra's. Huge mistake. I took my mom and my maid of honor with me and booked my appointment with Aziz since she did such a great job helping my friend just four weeks before. I told Aziz that I wanted to spend between $400 and $600 and that I wasn't sure what style I was looking for but that I wanted white. She immediately told me that if I wanted a dress in ivory she definitely had some options for me or if I could 'give her just a couple hundred more dollars in the budget' she 'might' be able to find something. Naturally, I'm embarrassed and confused. She starts going through the dresses and commenting on how they are outside of the budget I've given her and turns to me and says, 'Have you thought about going to David's Bridal?" essentially telling me I can't afford to buy the dresses they have. I tell her that I haven't yet and that I had only checked out a couple other places. She continues to suggest ivory to me at least three more times, although I couldn't make it any clearer that I did not want to wear ivory on my wedding day.
Finally, my mom finds a dress and says I should try it on, Aziz says, "What if she loves it, Mom?" to which my mom replied, "I would help her buy it, of course" and we move into the dressing room. This made Aziz happy, naturally, (I suspect my mom being there to squeeze for money was the difference between my experience from my friends, but who knows?) I try the dress on and it was beautiful but it had a really deep sweetheart that I wasn't crazy about. My MOH and mom both love it but I still can't wrap my head around the $875 price tag. I tell the employee that I have another dress at a different salon that I liked that I'd like to try on again before I made any decisions, but that I'd make a decision by Saturday (two days later) she responds.."I'm not trying to make a sale or anything, but if you wanted to buy this dress today I would waive the rush shipping (since a wedding in eight months is outrageous at Allesandra Bridal) and throw in the corset which costs $70 for free and do the alterations for your hem for $35 but I can't offer this for you if you come back in a week and decide you want the dress." Oh. So you ARE trying to make a sale.
Needless to say, I didn't buy the dress there, I ended up finding a dress at David's Bridal that was almost identical with a beautiful neckline for a fraction of the price, (so thanks for the referral!) Quite honestly, they should be ashamed of this type of pressure selling. Buying a wedding dress is a huge decision without having someone breathe down your neck about all of the freebies that you'll lose if you don't make a decision in five minutes. (Literally, five minutes. That was when she wanted a decision.)